Automatic water-heater.



T. 1. RADKE.

AUTOMATIC WATER HEATER. APPLICATION FILED JUNE T9. 1915.

awbcmtoz lower end is fixed in the central support 19 of the basin 14and whose upper end passes through a stufiing box 39 on the coupling 22.Coupling 22 is apertured at 40 to receive the short end 41 of a lever 42which is pivoted at 43 to said coupling. The long end of this lever 42passes through an aperture 44 in the wall of the casing, is bentupwardly at 45, and is formed with a horizontal portion 46, in which ismounted an adjustable screw tube 47 that is retained in its adjustedposition by the nut 48. Coupling 22 is also provided with a tubularprojection 49, the bore of which extends ,entirely through the coupling,and on this tubular end is secured a stop plug; 50 which supports acoupling 51 to which is connectedthe upper end of said heatercoil, asshown at 52.

A double valve casing 53 is located on the outside of the heater casingand is connected to coupling 51 by a pipe 54, and diametrically oppositetosaid pipe 54, said casing 53 is provided with a port 55 ,which is inconnection with the interior of valve casing 56.

Casing 53 is formed with a valve seat 57 directly below ort 55 and asecond seat 58 at its lower en and has a main water inlet 59 which isadapted to be connected to any,

source of water. Within casing 53 is positioned valves 60 and 61 whichseat respectively on seats 57 and 58. These valves are secured to asingle stem 62, and are positioned relative to each other, that wheneitherone is closed the other is open. Stem 62 projects upwardly througha stufling box 63 and its upper end is reduced in diameter to slidablyengage. within the bore ofscrew 47. Intermediate said screw 47 andstufling box 63, said stem is provided with a nut or nuts 64, on eachside of which is mounted the springs 65 and66, the spring 65 being ofless strength than spring 66 for reasons hereinafter set forth. On thetop of spring 66 is mounted a flanged cap 67 which is adapted to contactwith the lower end of screw 47.

Connected to the lower side of valve casing 53 and extending downwardlythrough a stufling box 68, is a pipe 69 which connects at its lower endwith one end of a piston chamber 70,whose opposite end is connected withvalve casing 56 by a pipe 71, said casing being formed with a valve seatat the top end of pipe 71 which is adapted to cooperate with aregulating valve 72 to regulate the fl'ow of water to the heater coil.

' Piston chamber is a closed chamber having a piston valve 73 thereinwhose normal position is intermediate the pipes 69 and- 71. Valve 73 isfixed upon a piston rod 74 whose inner end is supported and guided in aprojecting lug 75 fixed to the rear wall of chamber 70, and whose outerend extends through a suitable stufling box 76 and 1s secured to thelong end of a lever 77, pivoted at 78 to a casing 79, in which iscontained the gas valves 80 and 81.

Casing 79 contains a gas inlet chamber 82, a supply chamber 83, and amain burner chamber 84, the latter being connected, through pipe 85, toa burner ring 86 which communicates with and furnishes gas to aplurality of main burners 87, two only being shown in the drawing.

Valve 81 controls the flow of gas from chamber 83 to chamber 84 and isoperated to an open position, by the short arm 88 of lever 77 engagingthe projecting end of the valve rod 89 of valve 81, and is closed by aspring 90 when the force of the leveris removed from the opposite side.

Valve 80 controls the flow of gas from chamber 82 to chamber 83 and isoperated to an open position by a lever 91 which engagesits stem 92 andis returned to a closed position by aspring 93. Lever 91 is pivoted atits lower end to a bracket 94 and is provided with a sharp-edged lug 95which engages the lower free end of a lever 96 which is pivoted at itsupper end to a bracket 97 secured to the wall of the heater body. Lever96 is operated in one direction by a thermostatic rod 98 whose free endcontacts therewith adjacent its pivot, and said thermostatic rod has itsopposite end fixed in a bracket 99 secured to the side wall of theheater and on' the interior thereof. This thermostatic rod 98 is mountedabove a pilot burner 100 which has pipe connections with chamber 83 ofcasing 79.

Piston chamber 70 is supported in any suitable manner, and in thepresent instance it is shown provided with a depending lug 101 whichengages a recess formed in the top side of bracket 97. I

In operation, assuming that the several parts of the apparatus are inthe position shown in the drawing, the pilot burner 100 is firstlighted. This is accomplished by manually operating lever 96 to openvalve 80, so that gas from main supply inlet 102 can flow into pilotinlet 103 and thence to the burner. Lever 96 is held in the openposition for a short period after the pilot burner has been lighted, oruntil the heat from the burner expands the thermostatic rod sufiicientlyto hold the valve open. The pilot burner is kept continuously burning,and should it be accidentally extinguished, rods 98 would contract andallow the sprin 93 to close the valve 80 which would cut 0 the supply ofgas.

All of the water pipes being full of water, v 1

casing 53 and into the coil at 52. From the lower end of the coil thecirculation would continue through pipes 35 and upward through centralpipe 21, on all sides of the thermostat, and then through the outletpipe 103 to the discharge. During the flow of water, the piston 73having been moved to the left, it has operated lever 7 7 which has inturn opened valve 81, so the gas is then supplied to the main burners 87and are ignited from the flame of the pilot burner, which as beforestated, is kept continuously burning. Thus the main burners heat thecoils and the water therein as fast as it flows therethrough,consequently, in a moment, hot water is supplied at the discharge end ofthe system. The moment that the discharge end is closed, the circulationof water through the heater is stopped, and this releases the pressurefrom the right hand side of piston 73 and it is at once forced to theright by the spring 90 of valve 81 and then closes the admission of gasto the main burners and extinguishes the lights and consequently reducesthe supply of heat to the coil.

It will be observed that valve 80 controls the supply of gas to both thepilot and main burners and as before stated, should the pilot burner beaccidentally extinguished, the total supply of gas would be cut oii".This avoids wasteful and dangerous escape of gas through the pilotburner and main burners. In other words, the main burners cannot belighted until the pilot burner is first lighted. It will also beobserved, that piston? 3 is slightly smaller than the diameter of itschamber so that a by-pass is formed around its periphery, to allow itsfree movement to the right under the infiuence of spring 90 when thewater pressure is reduced. It will thus be seen that the flow of waterthrough the heater only controls the admission of gas to the mainburners and has no effect upon the temperature of the water dischargedtherefrom, excepting to furnish water as hot as the heat from theburners will make it.

To regulate the degree of temperature of the water discharged, the flowof cold water to the heater and gas to the burners is controlled by thethermostatic member 38 and its connections and they operate as follows:WVhen the discharge end of the system is opened and water is flowingthrough tube 21, in contact with the thermostatic rod 38, thetemperature of the water afi'ects said rod and causes it to expand andcontract according to the degree of tempera ture. If the water issufficiently hot to expand the rod, its upper end operates lever 42 andcauses it to depress valve rod 62 which will close valve 61 and openvalve 60. This will cut ofi' the flow of cold water downwardly frominlet 59, and consequently release the pressure in chamber 70, whichwill cause valve 81 to close and extinguish the main burners, and at thesame time allow the cold water to flow upwardly from inlet 59 and thendirectly into the coil to reduce the temperature of the water flowingtherethrough. As the water gets cooler, rod 38 contracts, the flow ofwater is again reversed and the main burners are again lighted.

The temperature of water desired, is secured by adjusting screw 47 whichwill regulate the throw of valves 60 and 61, that is, if water of hightemperature is desired, screw 47 is adjusted upwardly so that it wouldtake a long expansion of rod 38 to open valve 60, but if cooler water isdeslred the screw is adjusted downwardly. Upon the contraction of rod38, valve 60 is returned to its seat by the light spring 65 and whensaid valve is open and valve 61 is closed, heavy spring 66 will absorball surplus pressure that mayoccur due to excess expansion of rod 38.

From the above description, will be noted that a heater is providedwherein any temperature of water can be obtained at the discharge endwith a minimum of variation, and this is accomplished by controlling theoperation of a double valve by a thermostatic means, and at the sametime without re versing the flow of water through the heating coil.Basin 14 will receive the, con densation from the heat and is providedwith a suitable aperture 104 from which to draw said water ofcondensation, and it will be further understood, that a cover ordeflector can be mounted over thermostatic member 98 and pilot burner toprevent the water of condensation from extinguishing the pilot burnerlight.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed is 1-- 1. Ina heater of the character described, a water receptacle, a cold waterinlet, two branch supply pipes leading from said inlet to supply waterto said receptacle, a motor connected in one of said branch supply pipesfor operating a gas valve to open position, means for alternatelyopening said branch supply pipes to said inlet to cause the water toflow solely through one branch pipe at one time to operate said motor toopen said gas valve and at another time solely through-the other branchpipe free from said motor to allow the gas valve to close.

2. In a heater of the character described, a water receptacle, a coldwater inlet embodying a casing provided with two outlets, a branchsupply pipe leading from each outlet to supply water to said receptacle,a motor connected in one of said branch supply pipes for operating a gasvalve to open position, and a thermostatically operated means y fromsaid motor to allow the for alternately opening said branch supiplypipes to said inlet to cause the water to ow solely through one branchpipe at one time to operate said motor to open said gas valve and atanother time solely through the other branch pipe free from said motorto allow the gas valve to close.

3. In a heater of the character described, a water receptacle, a coldwater inlet embodying a casing provided with two outlets located inalinement with each other, a

branch supply pipe leading from each outlet v water to flowsolelythrough one branch pipe at one time to operate said motor to open saidgas valve and at another time solely through the other branch pipe freegas valve to close.

4. In a heater of the character described,

a water receptacle, a cold water inlet, a valve-casing provided with twooutlets located in alinement with each other, said inlet being connectedto said casing between the two outlets, a branch supply pipe leadingfrom each outlet to supply water to said receptacle, a motor connectedin one of said branch supply pipes for operating a gas valve to openposition, and a thermostatically operated means for alternately openingsaid branch supply pipes to said inlet to cause the water to fiow solelythrough one branch pipe at one time to operate said motor'to open saidgas valve and at another time solely through the other branch pipe freefrom said motor to allow the gas valve to close.

5. In a heater of the character described,

a water receptacle, a cold water inlet embodying a casing provided withtwo outlets in alinement with each other, a branch supply pipe leadingfrom each outlet to supply water to said receptacle, a motor connectedin one of said branch supply pipes for operating a gas valve to openposition, a double valve in said casing, and a thermostatically operatedmeans for operating said double valve to alternately open said branchsupply pipes to said inlet to cause the water to flow solely through onebranch pipe, at

one time to operate said motor to open said gas valve and at anothertime solely through the other branch pipe free from said motor to allowthe gas valve to close.

6. In a heater of the character described, a Water receptacle, a coldwater inlet embodying a casing provided with two outlets in alinementwith each other, a branch supply pipe leading from each outlet to supplywater to said receptacle, a gas controlling motor connected in one ofsaid branch supply pipes, a double valve in said casing for engagingsaid outlets and provided with an extended stem, means on said stem fornormally retaining said double valve in enagement with one of saidoutlets and free rom the other, and a thermostatically operatedmeanssfor operating said double valve to alternately open said branchsupply pipes to said inlet. v

7. In a heater of the character described, a water receptacle, a coldwater inlet embodying a casing provided with two outlets in alinementwith each other, a branch supply pipe leading from each outlet to supp ywater to said receptacle, "a gas controlling motor connected in one ofsaid branch supply pipes, a double valve-in said casing for engagingsaid outlets and provided with an extended stem, means on said stem fornormally retainingsaid double valve in engagement with one of saidoutlets and free from the other, means for regulating the throw of saiddouble valve, anda thermostatically operatedmeans for operating saiddouble valve to alternately open said branch supply pipes to said inlet.

8. In a water heater of the character described, a receptacle, a coldwater inlet embodying a casing provided with two outlets in alinementwith each other, a branch supply pipe leading from each outlet to supplywater to said receptacle, a gas controlling motor. connected in one ofsaid supply pipes, a double valve in said casing for engaging saidoutlets and provided with an extended stem, means on said stem fornormally retaining said valve in engagement with one of said-outlets, athermostatically operated means for operating said valve to alternatelyopen said supply pipes to said inlet, and means also on said stem fortaking up the excessive pressure of said thermostatically operatedmeans.

9. In a heater of the character described, a water receptacle, a coldwater inlet embodying a casing provided with two outlets in alinementwith each other, a branch supply pipe leading from each of said outlets,

a gas controlling motor connected in one of said branch supply pipes, avalve in said casing for alternately engaging said outlets and providedwith an extended stem, means on said stem for normally retaining saidvalve in engagement with one of said outlets, and a thermostaticallyoperated means for operating said valve and embodying a thermostatic rodlocated within said Water receptacle in the path of the out-flowingwater.

10. In a heater of the character described, a water receptacle providedwith a casing, a cold water inlet therefor, branch supply pipesconnected to said inlet to supply water to said receptacle, a gascontrolling mo-' tor connected in one of said branch supply In testimonyr'vhereof I aflix my signature pipes, a valve for alternately closingsaid in presence of two Witnesses.

branch supply pipes, a lever for operating THEODORE J. RADKE. said valvepivoted Within said casing, and a Witnesses: 5 thermostatic rod in thepath of the out-fiow- LA FAYETTE LE VAN,

ing water for operating said lever. F. C. HAWKE.

